Monday, November 06, 2006

Romney Retaining Tompkins

Tompkins, who pulled a nice delaying action while pretending to court U.S. Sen. John McCain, also held conversations with N.Y. Gov. Rudy Giuliani and other prospective 2008'ers before apparently settling on Romney.

Tompkins, whose consulting firm took it on the chin in the 2006 GOP Primary (Staton, Ryberg losses), was nonetheless the architect of Bush's brutal 2000 victory over McCain.

Romney's decision sets up another showdown between Tompkins forces and the "Quinn-dom" (Richard Quinn & Associates) which is once again managing McCain's South Carolina efforts.

This time it seems McCain has the upper hand, however. The Arizona Senator has a huge Name ID advantage, and every week his Straight Talk America organization has been rolling out a prominent in-state endorsement - including former Bush-backers like social conservative Upstate Sen. Mike Fair.

Tompkins has the ability to rape the tax paying public with his back room lobbying efforts, but as far as winning elections, he is far from the best, and one might just say he is wayyyyyyyy down the list of people that can turn an also run into a winner.